There is a wide array of muscular degenerative disorders that affect millions of people worldwide every year. The most common type of muscular dystrophy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, occurs in 1 of every 3300 male births. In addition, stroke, the leading cause of serious, long term disability in the United States, affects 795,000 people each year. Finally, the elderly population (65 and older) in the United States was 40.3 million in 2010, which was 13% of the total population. This number continues to grow and the elderly are predicted to comprise of 20% of the population of the United States by 2050. Many of these individuals cannot complete the simplest of tasks which require precise movement of arms, legs, and all other skeletal muscle extremities.
There is a demand for a hydraulically actuated exo-musculature that can be used to promote muscular rehabilitation, while allowing the user to wear the device comfortably with the body's natural movement in mind. A fully functional and comprehensive exo-musculature has the potential to provide assistive movement for entire human body by replacing the often cumbersome and limiting traditional robotic system. Still further, the hydraulically actuated Exo-Musculature, consisting of a network of actuator, that can be rapidly assembled, integrated with desired artificial skeleton and utilized as stand-alone robotic system.